Gordon Brown To Press G8 For Action On Food Prices

PM to press for
action on food prices

Monday 8:05 amHokkaido

Cereal production in the
developing world must increase to help meet worldwide demand
for food, according to a new UK Government report.

If
developing countries were reaching their food production
potential, global output would be much higher, far fewer
people would go hungry and social instability around the
world would decrease, says the paper.

Gordon Brown is to
use the G8 meeting of world leaders to push for global
action to deal with rising food prices, by focussing on
coping with increasing demand, and addressing worldwide food
waste.

The Cabinet Office report says that rising demand
for food, climate change, and trade and productivity
restrictions must all be addressed to ease the pressure on
people in the UK and around the world.

Both businesses and
households could do more to reduce food waste by improving
transport, storage and preparation techniques. It is
estimated that the UK could save £420 per household every
year by not throwing away an estimated 4.1 million tonnes of
food that could have been eaten.

Britain will also be
releasing the Gallagher review on the use of biofuels, which
concludes that more needs to be done to understand the link
between the fuel and its effects on food supply. The UK will
argue that the G8 must work to develop new global benchmarks
for sustainable biofuel production and use.

The Prime
Minister will also be pushing for the G8 to increase aid and
investment in African agricultural production. The richest
economies on the planet must also create an early warning
system for food supply, take a strategic position on global
food production, and support agricultural research.

Mr
Brown will push for an urgent conclusion to the Doha
Development Round of international trade talks.

The UK has
already pledged more than $1 billion in response to rising
global food prices.

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